Lifting and transporting device for holding hollow articles



y 1962 E. AMMON 3,033,604

LIFTING AND TRANSPORTING DEVICE FOR HOLDING HOLLOW ARTICLES Filed Jan. 26, 1960 I INVENTO fkws-r flMM ATTORNEYS United States Patent 1 3,033,604 LIFTING AND TRANSPORTING DEVICE FOR HOLDING HOLLOW ARTICLES Ernst Ammon, Bern, Switzerland, assignor to Maschinenfitted in the lower, smaller bore 7, said piston having an extension head portion 26 of larger diameter which is slidably fitted in the upper, wider bore 25.

On the piston or extension head 26 is a pilot screw brik wilg rillsiarisg fg f ggo z-sf gf z ig 5 27 which fits in corresponding slot 28 formed at one Claims priority, application Switzerland Feb. 18, 1959 .segmental Portion in the wall Of the upper Portion 22 6 Claims (CL 294 64) in order to prevent rotation of the piston 6, 26. In the wider bore 25 a spring 9 is located, abutting against the This invention relates to devices for picking up hollow, underside of the piston or extension head 26 and circumpreferably cylindrical hollow articles and holding same. 10 positioned about piston 6 for urging said head 26 to- Such devices are useful for feeding such hollow articles gether with piston 6 upwardly against a snap ring 10. nto machines for printing purposes and varnishing as The piston head 26 carries on its upper side a fork 29 in 1t 15, for example, the case in small, extruded containers. which a cam follower or roller 13 is rotatably arranged In such machines for printing and varnishing hollow by means of a pin or shaft 12. The cam follower or bodies have to be held in place by gripping or holding 15 roller 13 is moved along the face of a cam piece 11 10- means for handling and printing. These holding means cated or" recessed in frame 30 (partly broken away) for may comprise mechanical grippers, which require com effecting a downward stroke of the piston head 26 and pl cated mechanisms, such as linkages for operating the piston 6. a gripper fingers. Gripping devices having suction nozzles On the lower end of the piston 6 a cup 8 made of a are also used which require extended pipe lines and vacflexible, rubber-like material provided with a cavity 14 uum hoses, and obviously, a vacuum pump. I in its center portion, is firmly attached, and a cavity 31 lfurthermore a pickup and holding device is known in the lower portion 23 of the piston cylinder 2 is provided which consists of a piston cylinder which has on one end so that the flanges 32 of said cup 8 may rest on the face thereof a permanently attached centering plate and a suc- 0f the lower portion '23 of the piston cylinder 2 while tron nozzle having a bore, whereas the other end of said 25 the center portion of said cup 8 is retracted into said p1ston cylinder has a high precision bore at close tolercavity 31 when the piston assembly is urged into its upperance, 1n which bore a piston equipped with piston rings most position by the spring 9, thus increasing the cavity is arranged which piston is reciprocated by means of a 14- in said cup 8. spring and a controlled cam or roller. The precise and The device is operated by the rotation of the disc 1, therefore expensive machining of this bore in the piston whereby the cam follower or roller 13 along the path of cylinder which is subject to considerable Wear is of prime the cam 11, is depressed. Hereby the piston head 26 is importance. moved downwardly, compressing the spring 9. The pis- It is one of the objects of this invention to provide ton 6, forming part of the piston head 26, with the rubber means simplifying such pick-up and holding device and cup 8 on its lower face is moved downwardly on top of simultaneously reducing the manufacturing cost thereof. the hollow article 15 to be picked up. When the flanges It is another object of this invention to provide means 32 of said cup come to a rest on top of the hollow article conducive to new and improved means for picking up 15, the cup 8 is still further compressed so that the and for holding hollow articles. cavity 14 becomes smaller. On the return movement Still another object of this invention is to provide means operated by the spring 9, a vacuum in the cavity 14 is atfordlng centering of the picked-up articles and for hold- 40 generated by pulling or at least partly moving the cup mg them 11'! centered position. into the recess 31 and thus increasing said cavity 14 of Furthermore it is an object of the present invention said cup 8, and the hollow article 15 is picked up, cento provide means leading to aneflicacious, easily operable r i itself relative to the centering disc 5 for further and sturdy gripping construction for the intended purprocessing, such as printing or transferring etc. poses. When upon further rotation of the rotating disc 1 Further objects and advantages of the invention will be th cam follower or roller 13 again is moved downwardly set forth in part hereafter and in part will be obvious "by th cam 11, piston 6 depresses the cup, thus breaking therefrom or may be learned by practicing the invention, the vacuum previously created in the cavity 14 and causthe same being realized and attained by means or the ing release f th hollow arti le 15. instrumentalities and combinations pointed out in the While the invention has been described and illustrated ppen e ai with respect to a certain particular preferred example Reigning now e Specifically t0 the drawing, in which gives satisfactory results it will be understood by which parts will identified y specific terms for C011- those skilled in the art after understanding the principle venience, but such terms are intended tov be as generic f h i i th t vari us other changes and modifiin their application to similar parts as the art will permit. nations may b d ithout departing from the spirit Like reference characters denote like parts in the drawing, wherein a disc or support l, partly broken away, is illustrated, which has a plurality of vertical bores 21 spaced apart near the periphery thereof. The disc is and scope of the invention and it is intended therefore in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications.

I claim:

1. Pick-up and holding device for hollow articles comadapted to be rotated about a central axis or to be revolved around a central portion of the apparatus (not prising a movable disc, at least one elongated piston cylinshown) in a well known manner. In each one of these der fixedly held on said disc, said piston cylinder having bores 21 is disposed a piston cylinder 2 which is threaded on its upper portion 22 and on its lower portion 23 and which is held firmly in place in its bore 21 by nuts 3 r and 4, respectively.

On the lower portion of the cylinder 2 is a centering disc 5 threadedly engaged, which can be adjusted upwardly and downwardly and which is secured in its position by a setscrew 24. The cylinder 2 has a central smaller bore 7 in its lower portion and a wider bore 25 in its upper portion. A piston generally designated 6 is a central bore, a recess having a substantially larger diameter than said bore on one end of said elongated cylinder, a piston having a head, said piston being slidably arranged in said bore, said piston having a cup made of a flexible material firmly secured to the end opposite the said head thereof, said cup having a cavity in its center portion and a flange surrounding said cavity disposed over the end of said piston cylinder, a spring abutting against said head of said piston urging said piston upwardly and a cam follower mounted on top of said head in a manner to cause movement of said piston when said cam follower is depressed, said piston being effective on downward movement to compress said cup-shaped memher to diminish the vacuum space above the article held thereby to release the article and being effective to increase the vacuum space to hold an article upon upward movement after said cup-shaped member is positioned on the article.

2. Pick-up and holding device for hollow articles according to claim 1, and comprising a centering disc for said hollow articles. extending downwardly from the end of said elongated piston cylinder adjacent said cup.

3. Pick-up and holding device for hollow articles according to claim 2 including means connecting said centering disc to said piston cylinder permitting relative adjustment there/between.

4. Pick-up and holding device for hollow articles comprising a rotating disc, elongated piston cylinder means attached to said disc, each one of said piston cylinders having a central bore, a piston means slidably arranged in said bore, said piston means having a head on one end and cup means made of flexible material on the other end thereof, said cup means having a cavity and a flange surrounding said cavity disposed over the end of said cylinder, spring means abutting against said head and a cam follower or roller mounted on said head in a manner to cause movement of said piston when said cam follower is depressed, and centering means for said hollow articles extending downwardly from the end of said elongated piston cylinder adjacent said cup, said'piston being effective on downward movement to compress said cup-shaped member to diminish the vacuum space above the article held thereby to release the article and being effective to increase the vacuum space to hold an article upon upward movement after said cup-shaped member is positioned on the article.

5. A pick-up and holding device for cams and similar articles comprising a circular cam, a cylinder mounted for rotation in an are adjacent said cam, said cylinder having a hollow central bore and a recess of larger diameter defined in its lower face, a resilient substantially cup-shaped member having a central portion and an outerfiange portion disposed across the recess, a piston slidable in said bore and connected at one end to the central portion of said cup-shaped member and having means at the opposite end engageable with said cam, and means to bias said piston into contact with said cam whereby said pistonis reciprocated under the influence of said cam upon rotation of said cylinder, said piston being eflfective on downward movement to compress sm'd cup-shaped member to diminish the vacuum space above the article held thereby to release. the article and being effective to increase the vacuum space to hold an article upon upward movement after said cup-shaped member is positioned over the article.

6. A pick-up and holding device according to claim 5, wherein said cylinder is threaded at each end and a locking nut threaded onto said cylinder at each end to hold it to its mounting.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,006,315 Toth Oct. 17, 1911 1,487,414 Weatherhead Mar. 18, 1924 2,193,097 Hildebrand Mar. 12, 1940 2,607,620 Oliveri Aug. 19, 1952 2,620,217 Lenhart Dec. 2, 1952 2,951,716 Myers Sept. 6, 1960 

